''The Main Event'' is a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising ...

that was produced by the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and va ...

(WWF). There were five shows between 1988 and 1991. Only the first three ''The Main Event'' episodes were shown live on NBC. The final two were taped and then shown on NBC at a later date. It included mainly high-card wrestlers of the WWF including

Hulk Hogan Terry Eugene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 1 ...

André the Giant André René Roussimoff (; 19 May 1946 – 28 January 1993), better known by his ring name André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. Roussimoff was known for his great size, which was a result of gigantism caused by exces ...

"Macho Man" Randy Savage Randall Mario Poffo (November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011), better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestl ...

The Ultimate Warrior Warrior (born James Brian Hellwig; June 16, 1959 – April 8, 2014) was an American professional wrestler and bodybuilder. Best known by his ring name The Ultimate Warrior, he wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) from 1 ...

and "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. It was a spin-off of '' Saturday Night's Main Event'' and aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

on Friday nights during

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

. All episodes of ''The Main Event'' are available on the

WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American entertainment company WWE. It primarily distributes original professional wrestling events, films, television an ...

, included with ''Saturday Night's Main Event''.

Dates and venues

Results

The Main Event

The Main Event (1988) took place and aired live on Friday February 5, 1988 at 8pm ET from the Market Square Arena in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of U.S. state and territorial capitals, state capital and List of U.S. states' largest cities by population, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat, seat of ...

. The live broadcast drew a 15.2

Nielsen rating Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...

and 33 million viewers, both records for American televised wrestling. The match between

and

saw André receive the pinfall victory despite Hogan's shoulders not being down. It was revealed post-match that the referee was not the assigned referee, Dave Hebner, but rather his twin brother,

Earl Hebner Earl William Hebner (born May 17, 1949) is an American retired professional wrestling referee who last officiated for All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is best known for his time as senior referee for the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) from 19 ...

, who was hired by

Ted DiBiase Theodore Marvin DiBiase Sr. (born January 18, 1954) is an American retired professional wrestler, manager, ordained minister and color commentator. He is currently signed to WWE working in their Legends program. DiBiase achieved championship ...

as part of a storyline screwjob. After the match, André attempted to surrender the title to DiBiase. Then-WWF President Jack Tunney said the title could only change hands by pin or submission, and said that by attempting to surrender the title, André had actually vacated it. Following the vacancy, a single elimination tournament was held at WrestleMania IV to crown the new champion. The Strike Force vs. The Hart Foundation match was still in progress when NBC signed off. In 2014, when the

uploaded this episode to its on-demand section, the ending of the match was added in.

The Main Event II

The Main Event II took place and aired live on Friday February 3, 1989 at 8pm ET from the

Bradley Center The Bradley Center (also known as the BMO Harris Bradley Center under sponsorship agreements) was a multi-purpose arena located on the northwest corner of North Vel R. Phillips Ave. and West State Streets in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United ...

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

. The live broadcast drew an 11.6 rating and 19.9 million viewers. The slowly building tension between

and

boiled over during the team's match against

The Twin Towers ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speak ...

, leading to the team's breakup upon Savage's heel turn when Savage contended that Hogan was lusting after his manager, Miss Elizabeth.

The Main Event III

The Main Event III took place and aired live on February 23, 1990 at 10pm ET from the

Joe Louis Arena Joe Louis Arena was an arena in Downtown Detroit. Completed in 1979 at a cost of US$57 million as a replacement for Olympia Stadium, it sat adjacent to Cobo Center on the bank of the Detroit River and was accessible by the Joe Louis Arena sta ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. The live broadcast drew a 12.8 rating and 20.9 million viewers.

Mike Tyson Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson is con ...

was originally scheduled to be the special guest referee, but this changed following Buster Douglas' knockout title win over Tyson just under two weeks before, on February 11. Tyson would eventually be the guest referee at WrestleMania XIV. Tito Santana was a substitute for Jimmy Snuka.

The Main Event IV

The Main Event IV took place on October 30, 1990 from the

Allen County War Memorial Coliseum Allen County War Memorial Coliseum is a 13,000-seat multi-purpose arena located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, near present-day Johnny Appleseed Park. It opened in 1952 with a construction cost of nearly $3 million. The Allen County War Memorial Colise ...

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

, and aired on Friday November 23, 1990 at 10pm ET. The broadcast drew an 8.6 rating and 15 million viewers. The WWF Tag Team Championship match between The Hart Foundation and The Rockers was supposed to be on the show. The Rockers defended their newly won titles a few times before the WWF rehired

Jim Neidhart James Henry Neidhart (February 8, 1955 – August 13, 2018) was an American professional wrestler known for his appearances in the 1980s and 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation as Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, where he was a two-time WWF Tag ...

, pairing him with

Bret Hart Bret Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE under a legend's contract. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling back ...

once more, and quietly handing the belts back to The Hart Foundation, erasing The Rockers' reign from the history books. Retrospectively, the WWF explained that the title change had been revoked due to a ring rope malfunction during the second fall of the two-out-of-three falls match. The match can be seen unedited on the DVD ''The Shawn Michaels Story: Heartbreak & Triumph''. Marty Jannetty pinned

in the first fall with a sunset flip counter at 9:33. Hart pinned

Shawn Michaels Michael Shawn Hickenbottom (born July 22, 1965), better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative. Widely regarded as one ...

in the second fall with the Hart Attack at 19:23. Jannetty pinned

in the third fall when Michaels dropkicked Jannetty onto Neidhart, who was setting up the Hart Attack at 25:41.

Nikolai Volkoff Josip Hrvoje Peruzović (October 14, 1947 – July 29, 2018), better known by his ring name Nikolai Volkoff, was a Yugoslav-American professional wrestler best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Although Volkoff often p ...

was scheduled to face Sgt. Slaughter on the show, but Slaughter attacked Nikolai before the opening bell rang and the match never took place.

The Main Event V

The Main Event V took place on January 28, 1991 from the Macon Coliseum in Macon, Georgia, and aired on Friday February 1, 1991 at 8pm ET.

KNBC KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Corona-li ...

, the NBC-

owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an network af ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, did not air this program when it was shown by the network on February 1. That day, a collision took place at

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...

between a US Airways passenger jet and a

SkyWest Airlines SkyWest Airlines is an American regional airline headquartered in St. George, Utah, United States. SkyWest is paid to staff, operate and maintain aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by a partner mainline airline. The ...

commuter plane. The crash occurred in the late afternoon, and KNBC opted to air news bulletin coverage of this story throughout the night. The station did replay the program unadvertised on a later date. The broadcast drew 10.6 million viewers and a 6.7 rating, which was at the time the worst rating any WWF program had received on NBC despite the presence of

. This has been blamed on the controversial and exploitative Sgt. Slaughter Iraqi sympathizer storyline that was on going at the time. WWF President Jack Tunney declared

the number one contender for Sgt. Slaughter's

WWF Championship The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, representing the Raw brand division. It is one of two world titles on WWE's main roster, alongside SmackDow ...

at WrestleMania VII. Brother Love announced he was stepping down as

The Undertaker Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by the ring name The Undertaker, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway spent the vast majorit ...

's manager and introduced his hand-picked replacement,

Paul Bearer William Alvin Moody (April 10, 1954 – March 5, 2013) was an American professional wrestling manager and licensed funeral director. He is best known for his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) where he performed under ...

. This was Paul Bearer's WWF debut.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wwf The Main Event 1988 American television series debuts 1991 American television series endings NBC original programming

Main Event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...